I Promise, I'm Out Here Somewhere
by WyrdFyre
Summary: What does it mean to lose your memory? Do you lose yourself or is it something more. Something bad happened to her and she knew it... she just can't figure out what. Oh well, why not become the Pirate King! Maybe that will cure the ache in her heart. Fem, DFF Luffy. Expanded crew, dark. Trigger warnings: Anxiety, depression and memory loss. Rated T might change.
1. Who am I?

**A/N: I accidentally deleted my A/N on fanfic... oops? Correcting that now. Anyway, thank you for reading! The story now has a beta so hopefully, it's a bit better!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own One Piece. This wonderful creation is Oda's and Oda's alone. I will never be able to live up to his greatness.**

**Petal Island  
**Sea: East blue  
5 years before Luffy sets off.

At some point in their life, everyone will come to know the same tough life lesson; You never realise how much you have until it's gone. Sometimes it's later, a natural progression that humbles you and then you get on with your life. Some people however, learn this lesson too soon, as was the case of a carefree young girl living in a village isolated from the rest of the world.

There wasn't much Luffy could remember from that evening, and when she could, it came in brief flashes that tormented her subconscious. The roaring hot flames that rose from the ground as the smoke suffocated her, the vomit retching screams that ripped her eardrums as the people were slowly cooked alive, their skin sliding off their bones, and the psychotic cackling that echoed through the village, finding joy in the chaos. She clutched the straw hat between her fingers – the only thing that made it out unscathed. It wasn't clear how or why it could have survived, considering her current guardian found her practically naked standing in the middle of a collapsing building, and yet it did. It was her only connection with her previous life. She had forgotten everything, bear her name, but she _knew_ that this straw hat she clutched in her hands was very important to her. A symbol of something that would change the world.

_Several years later…_

"FOOD!" a voice bellowed through the air as a girl sat up from an uncomfortable mattress and groaned, opening a bleary eye as she looked around the trashed room. Stretching lethargically in an attempt to soothe her aching muscles, she yawned, and turned her attention to the window, captivated by a golden sunrise. Brilliant tones of red and yellow painted the outside world, serenity enveloping nature as small birds sang to the morning dew and crickets chirped at the dawn of a new day.

"Coming!" she shouted back, looking out of the window again before turning to get ready for the day. She removed her sleep clothes and froze when she caught sight of herself in the mirror, looking in awe at the scars that littered her small frame. It happened every so often, when her body became unfamiliar to her, as flashes of colour and vague recognition played in her mind. She ran her fingers over the scar on her right arm; it was lighter than the rest of her skin. Frowning, she pondered who she had been before and why she was so damaged. There were no fresh burns. None of them had come from the fire. It didn't make any sense, she had to be missing something. Well, in truth she was missing a lot of things, she just wasn't sure why this of all things bothered her the most. She moved closer to the mirror; her breath clouding the surface as she looked at her reflection. One of the most prominent scars was the shape of a semi-circle; she let familiarity wash over her as she felt the disrupted smoothness across her fingertips. There were a few others, both visible and invisible- the large gash on her chin, the small white marks across her forehead and her eye. She could barely see a bloody thing out of one of her heterochromatic eyes. Shaking her thoughts away, she shoved on a loose cream shirt and cropped brown trousers and sighed before putting on other essentials so she could head down for food.

A banquet awaited her as the pre-teen's eyes widened at the amount of food at her disposal, jumping into the fray of her hectic family. Oh, if only the male version of her could see her now - she contemplated that he would be disappointed at the lack of meat, as she tucked into her plate, which mainly consisted of just that. Around her sat her family – the one that had rescued her. They were members of an underground crime ring within East Blue, fighting for equality where the marines failed, and "in no way connected with the Revolutionary army" – a stock term in the leader's daily speeches. They were very adamant about that. She still couldn't remember anything, which was slightly annoying, but recently something had been nagging at the back of her mind. Something important. She was halfway through a mouthful of bacon when it struck her. She immediately stood up, an excited glint in her eyes. Her family looked up at her as she grinned with pride, stabbing her fork into the wooden table and gulping down the barely chewed mulch.

"I'm going to become the Pirate King!" She exclaimed; a typical 'D' smile plastered on her face. Her heart hammered in her chest as she glanced over at the proud faces around her. She looked to the woman who was like a mother to her, whose face was set in its usual frown; like someone had carved each of her features out of marble. But she couldn't hold it for long, and she smirked, breaking the oppressive façade.

"Well then, someone should betta teach yas' how to be a pirate then shouldn' they!" She exclaimed as the whole table burst into cheers.

Yes. This girl was going to rock the world to its very core, and her family would be damned if they didn't give her a fighting chance.

**Unknown**  
Sea: Grand Line  
5 years before Luffy sets off

Life is a tragedy waiting to happen. He had always thought he'd die before he'd see his Son die, never mind his granddaughter. But life doesn't seem to work out the way you want it too. Garp sat on his boat, eyeing the half-empty bottle of whiskey on his desk and the empty glass in his hand. Sighing, he contemplated his life. Where had he gone wrong?

You never realise how much you have until it's gone.

Truer words were never spoken.

Garp eyed the bottle again, put down the glass and picked it up. He paused, looking to the glass, sighing again as a tear escaped from his eye, running down the chiselled tracks of its predecessors. He put the bottle to his mouth and downed its contents.

**Nimura Island**  
Sea: East blue  
Three years before Luffy sets off.

"WATCH OUT!" A loud voice echoed through the trees as a rambunctious monkey came crashing towards the floor. The person she had directed this exclamation towards was named Trae. Trae was a normal, well reasonably normal, young man, who lived in Nimura Village which was up in the trees. He found himself on the jungle floor a few moments ago, wakening to a large spider stuck on his face. He was on the verge of a panic attack caused by said insects leg trying to make its way into his mouth when he shot up, soon to be knocked down again by the incident addressed previously.

Now, it's not every day you manage to fall from your home, out of your window, knock yourself out and then soon after, be knocked out _again_ by some very sound and very rubber looking soles worn by a girl around 14. Trae had enough life experience in his short 15 years of life to know this was a rather unlucky and unfortunate encounter as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

When he re-awakened, he was greeted with two large black orbs, hovering over his head. It took him longer than he would like to admit in realising that these were eyes, not inanimate objects boring into his soul. Groaning, he sat up, cautiously looking around him to find that he was no longer in the place he was earlier. Instead, he was in a closed-off room which seemed to be similar to a hospital ward, except this was not like the single and only hospital room he had seen in his short and very insignificant existence.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling? What were you doing down there? I thought you people hated being on the ground. Why were you...?" The girl questioned incessantly, invading his personal space as she hovered like a small bird would over its pray.

"Where am I?" He asked finally after the buzz had calmed down, shifting his focus to the girl in front of him. His head was slowly but surely being removed from the feeling of being stuffed with cotton wool.

"You're on a ship." She replied straightforwardly, sitting down as Trae stared back for a few seconds, processing the information.

"Why am I on a ship?"

"Well…"

"Ah! That is a question that will be a little harder to answer..." a voice echoed from the direction of the door, bringing Trae's attention to the fact that they were not alone.

"Doctor!" The girl exclaimed standing up. He was stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the frame. It was at this moment his memories came flooding back into his mind.

"How is he?" the Doctor asked her, walking towards them

"He seems okay..."

"You! You're the one who knocked me over!" He interrupted, pointing at the girl as his mind raced to try to make sense of the situation. Admittedly failing miserably.

"Are you gonna tell him, or do you want me to?" The doctor asked, seemingly ignoring Trae's epiphany. The girl paused for a second, cocking her head and turning to her captive audience - of whom was now slumped against the headrest in resignation- he had no fucking clue what was happening and was now going with the flow in an attempt to fight off an existential crisis. She sighed, sitting back down again and clasping her hands together in what seemed to be a nervous gesture. Trae couldn't help but think that this did not bode well for his current predicament.

"Well… You see - We had a mission… Wait no, that's not a great place to start. We weren't meant to be on the Island for long, and we couldn't be – that's part of our thing. We can't stay after the mission finishes. It's the rule, one of the only ones that must be followed. You see, the rules are there for a reason, to keep us safe. And when I stumbled across you – I was heading back, and by the time I saw you, it was too late. You didn't look go…ter… err… awful is probably better - your face was unnaturally white and then I lifted your head, and there was blood. So much blood. Everywhere. You see the rules say that innocents can't be harmed. They're a liability, but they are also part of our mission. And I couldn't leave you there with your head like that… bleeding out, because you'd die… but I also couldn't go ba… go to the village because I couldn't stay. So… I took you back with me, and the doc patched you up. Good as new!" By the end of this very disjointed and confusing babble, Trae couldn't say that he was any more informed than he had been at the start. One. He had been taken somewhere – coincidentally he was on a boat. Two. He had a head injury, which was obvious by the very prominent ache in the back of his head. Three. He had been treated, which is also obvious because he was awake and not dead. Happy times.

"What Luffy is trying to say is that she's very sorry, but she has kidnapped you, and now you can't go back to your small little island." The doctor added in exasperation, giving the now named girl a fond look as his words span in Trae's head. He sat still for a few minutes, trying to make sense of the situation. Shoving many of the less (psychologically) pressing thoughts to the back of his mind, locked in a tight box in the middle of a dark cave-like maze which he would hopefully never have to enter again. After a while, he concluded that he needed to deal with the most pressing matter at hand.

"Why?" he asked.

"We are influential members of a criminal society that runs underneath East Blue. Not only would it be dangerous for us if you were to leave us, but for you too. Once you've seen us, it's either you don't leave our site, someone will kill you, or we kill you. I've just spent a lot of time and effort to make sure your sorry ass stays alive, so I don't particularly want to do the latter."

"Huh…" said Trae, promptly fainting.

**Unknown**  
Sea: East Blue  
6 months before Luffy sets off

The ocean spray lingered on the deck as Luffy gazed out over the water. One hand wrapped tightly around the railing while the other clenched her distinctive straw hat. The sunset set the sky on fire as it ducked under the clouds, slowly turning into night. Her black hair flew back in the breeze, her silhouette outlined in gold. It was almost blinding, the power rolling off her in waves. Raw emotion. Like the ocean. She embodied the sea. Wild and free, untamed, beautiful and deadly. As she turned, her eyes lit, flames dancing, twirling, fighting for air as they plunged into shadow. But they were still there. She looked directly to her companion. Trae had grown in the last two years. He was still as weak as a fledgeling bird, but he had become taller. He leant against one of the cabin walls, watching Luffy carefully, not with obsessiveness as one does with a hobby or interest – but with curiosity. Over the last year and a half, he had learned things about himself that he never knew. He had battled with himself and others. When he had first found out about his predicament, he had fainted. It had been a massive shock. Ever since then, he had been trapped. Like a bird of prey stuck on the ground and de-winged, never to fly again. He was a chained animal in a gladiator ring – free until the show was over and he had to go back into his cage. Their eyes met, lingering for a moment before Luffy dropped her gaze to the tattoo on his wrist. It was intricate, three tar-black feathers encircled with a black line, connecting each one. It was a symbol of those who were taken. Of freedom that was not there's. Luffy felt like she was going to be sick. She walked over to him, stopping in front of where he stood, biting her lip.

"Do you hate me?" she asked finally

"Never…" he replied shortly, realising what she was referring to and immediately going to cover the thing with his hand. She stopped him.

"Why?" She asked, frustration clear in her voice. "Why don't you hate me? You should hate me! You've tried to run so many times, again and again, so don't tell me you don't hate me, I can't… no, I won't believe it." There was a pause as her passion, her anger, her whole person stared right through him.

"I don't hate you Luffy…" he stated, it was so quiet that it was almost impossible to hear "I don't hate you because as much as you trapped me… the last year… ever since I've been with you, I'm freer than I have ever been in my life." Her piercing gaze persisted, analysing everything, his breath, his face, his posture, his heart rate… his eyes. She could only see the truth. Letting out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding, she relaxed, closing her eyes.

A sharp sound crackled through the air. Splinters of wood fell to the ground as blobs of water suddenly appeared in the air, the clouds above them darkening with anger. Trae flinched, looking back to the dark eyes of Luffy once more after his eyes strayed to look at the damage. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

There was a gaping hole in the side of the cabin.

"But you are scared of me." It was a statement, not a question. Trae nodded anyway. "How can you like someone you're scared of?" she asked in disbelief, the water droplets falling to the floor with a splash as she relaxed, anger dissipating as it started to spit rain – the droplets falling delicately on their skin.

"By understanding them." He replied. There was a long comfortable silence as they faced one another. Looking at each other and seeing the ugly truth, their trust in one another.

"Trae… I'm leaving soon." She paused, turning her back to him once more as the last rays of sun disappeared beyond the horizon. "Come with me."

He stepped in line with her, turning slightly to catch her profile.

"Always… To the end of the world."

**Baratie**  
Sea: East blue  
6 months before Luffy sets off

"Come here, you shitty cook! When I get my hands on you!" came a shout from the restaurant as Sanji stood at the railing outside facing the window, taking a drag as he watched the chaos unfold. Well then, there goes another waiter.

Shitty Bastards. He smiled and took another drag.

**Unknown Island**  
Sea: East Blue  
6 months before Luffy sets off

Looking down at the pile of treasure at her feet, Nami smiled, contemplating life before all this business as she looked towards the corresponding collection of corpses.

Oh well, back to Cocoyasi Village.

**Unknown**  
Sea: East Blue  
6 months before Luffy sets off

Zoro stretched his muscles, looking at the sea below the edge of the boat he was on. He'd hitched a ride to the next village, a feeling of foreboding in his chest as the water lapped against the hull. Sighing, he turned to look for the sun, resting a hand on Wado Ichimonji, trying to not think about what was to come

**Syrup Village**  
Sea: East Blue  
6 months before Luffy sets off

"Pirates are coming!"

Those were the only screams that could be heard in the village, every day, for what seemed like forever. The communities were fond of the orphan's antics – as much as they would never say that themselves – but he was getting to that age now… most of them thought it was about time he settled.

**Whitebeard's Ship**  
Sea: West Blue  
6 months before Luffy sets off

Ace sat in the mess hall of the Moby, drinking a single glass of the most potent stuff he could find onboard. It was the anniversary of that day – the worst day of his life when his little sister…

He looked around; it was empty all for Thatch who was busying himself in the kitchen.

To you, and your life – wherever you are.

**Unknown**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

A figure silhouetted against the sun stood on the bird's nest of a large ship, watching the sunset across the horizon. Another boat appeared.

They called the sighting, watching those on the deck below scuttle around like beetles at the possibility of a fight.

**Drum Kingdom**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

"Chopper! We're setting off, get your ass down here" The 'un-ageing' woman cried, her voice reaching across the frozen castle. She could barely hear the squeaky reply as she mounted the sledge. She liked to think that this could one day become the home of the ruler of the kingdom again… she just needed to wait for the right moment.

**Alabasta**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

Robin sat cross-legged across from one of the most dangerous men she had encountered in her ventures. A mantra played in her head… For freedom, for history.

**Unknown Island**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

There was a pilgrimage she had to take, a pilgrimage that was not to find faith but to find a purpose. She had to. She didn't want to be lost forever.

**Skypia**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

Ever since he was young, he had loved tinkering with things… he was one of those guys who had to figure out the mysteries of the world. The only question was – how did he get here?

**Water Seven**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

The house was a ruckus, like usual, parties in full swing as the lives of Water seven's infamous gang never rested. Harbouring great secrets, they forgot about all responsibilities as the night ticked away, unknowing of impending chaos.

**Unknown**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

When someone dies, does anyone know where they go? I wonder if I could find…

A dull thud echoed around the cave, the smell of sweat and blood emanating from every crevice. Laughter filled the room as they looked around them to the fallen.

"Oh, where do they go, I wonder?"

**Florian Triangle**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

"Today, and tomorrow, our dreams through the night!

Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again!

But don't look so down, for tomorrow night the moon will also rise!

Going to deliver Binks' Sake!

Let's all sing it with a Don! A song of the waves

Doesn't matter who you are, someday you'll be bone

Never-ending, ever-wandering, our funny travelling tale!

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

Yo-hohoho…"

**Unknown**  
Sea: Grand Line  
6 months before Luffy sets off

"Are you planning on doing anything special?"

"Me? Oh… not really, I'm waiting for something."

"You don't know?"

"I do – I'll know when it happens because when it does, it will shake the world."


	2. New Beginnings

**Unknown**  
East Blue  
Two months until Luffy sets sail

Luffy had a problem. It wasn't a huge problem... okay, yeah, it actually kind of was. It had been several months since she had asked Trae to go with her on this adventure – not that he knew what she had planned. To be honest, she was struggling in coming up with a plan. Something in her bones told her that she had to leave precisely on her seventeenth birthday... Unfortunately, she had no fucking clue when that was. She sighed, slumped forward and ended up bumping her head against her writing desk. It would appear that her bones also neglected the fact that she needed to plan, so she had to question their judgement. Lifting her head from the desk, she squinted at what she had written by the dim light of the candle (a bad idea really).

_Preparation:_

_Get first crew member (Done)_

_Get a crew_

_Get a boat_

_Pack prov- things I need (in progress)_

_Get information on the grand line_

It was in moments like these that she hated her memory loss. The family had thankfully kept it a secret from those she kept in contact with, but she wondered if she would be better off if they were to know. It was like her subconscious was keeping secrets from her, which did not help her trust issues. At least she had her name, it was the only tie to her previous life and not many other people who lost their memory had the comfort of knowing even that. The heavy wooden chair screeched as she rose. She sighed, and in an attempt to escape the sinking feeling that had overwhelmed her, forced herself out of the stuffy cabin. The cold sea air woke her brain from its lethargic state and rejuvenated her. That was enough pondering over things she couldn't help. This was the sea. All would bow down to her one day. She yearned for that feeling of power. To go wherever and do whatever she wanted. She hoped that such power would soothe the ache in her chest. It had lodged itself there, an ache that would not be satisfied until the sea swallowed it whole.

Walking over to the railing, she looked ahead. No land for miles. She shouted up to the crow's nest to confirm, before heading over to the navigator to determine their heading. Trae was sat by the navigator's cabin, doing what he does best- complaining. He was always annoyed at something, usually his shoes.

Sighing, she watched him out of the corner of her eye, contemplating the journey ahead. Aha! Another problem. Great. She had yet to tell Trae of her intentions. No one outside of the inner circle knew of her predicament – the issues that constantly plagued her. The main factor in this current moment, however, is that with secrets, there is never a good time to reveal them. Nice ones, sure, there are plenty of times that could be considered right... until you end up choosing the exact wrong moment that screws you over. Luffy had learnt this lesson when her friend's parrot died. She'd only found out after telling him she had bought it a new cage (The parrot had been a joke between the two ever since and had sparked an everlasting yearning for an animal companion of some sort– in loving memory of Peg the parrot). However, there is, in fact, never a good time to reveal a bad secret. She believed that her and Trae's friendship was built on a precarious 30cm sandcastle and the tide was closer than ever, threatening it's already arguable stability.

If only she had lived a normal life, been picked up by ordinary people and then she wouldn't have had to put up with the _torture _of having 'gang' leaders train her. Three years of hell. It was in this period when they had discovered she had a Devil fruit. That wasn't necessarily a secret though, because it would have made her a weakness within her own team. Although they did well to keep it's true nature to themselves.

Over the years she had polished her fighting style – a combination of martial arts and street fighting with her trusty pipe as back up. Long story short – they were rummaging through a junkyard and came upon a metal pipe. As soon as she had picked it up, it was magic. Well, maybe more like muscle memory. They had theorised that it was another connection to her past, and since then, she had always kept it close. In the beginning, she had even slept with it in her arms. That pipe and her shared more intimate moments than she had ever had with any other human being – that she knew of. Now that is what you call devotion. The physical training mainly focused on her ability to be nimble, not that she lacked in strength, but her speed was phenomenal. It was the reason she had always won when it came to races (Ha! Take that Trae!).

Throughout her contemplations, the navigator explained where they were headed and was getting more and more exasperated by the minute.

"Are you even listening to me?" an annoyed voice echoed through her consciousness

"What? Oh... yeah of course I was,"

"Sure..." The scepticism was plain in his voice, and the moment of silence that followed was pure awkwardness.

"So, how long until we get to the next Island?" she asked, attempting to make up for her lack of concentration.

"Two hours."

The navigator then hurried off in the direction that a certain someone would be least likely to head in the last few hours of the trip.

**Unknown**  
East Blue

They had been travelling for several days to check out some intel at a portside town called Shells. It had a heavy marine presence, so they had disguised themselves as merchants as to be as inconspicuous as possible. Unfortunately, this attracted pirates, and even more unfortunate – the one that was currently heading towards them was a garishly pink shade of Umbridge. Luffy wasn't even sure how it was afloat when she saw it's whale of a captain arrive on deck. Yup, you called it – Iron Mace Alvida. It was over in a few moments. Luffy observed weaklings who had passed out on the deck in front of them in contempt. Their bodies held the appearance of formless slugs, scattered with droplets of crimson which painted both themselves and the floor. A small pink-haired boy trembled against the cabin. He was the only one who seemed to notice the obscured silhouette of a figure wearing a straw hat. After the 'fighting' had calmed down, she stepped forward, analysing the boy.

"You don't belong here…" she stated.

His voice trembled.

"N-n-n no Ma'am."

"Hm... Leave." She instructed, pointing to the lifeboats. Silence fell aboard the ship as those few who were still conscious watched the boy scutter away. Once his small boat was obscured by the horizon, Luffy relaxed, tipping her hat up and giving instructions to her subordinates until just her and Trae were left on the deck. She motioned her hand for him to follow her back onto their boat and into her private quarters. There was a slight pause as Luffy sat at her desk facing him sternly. There was a tense silence. In the dimness of the cabin, Trae could see the outlines of various artefacts scattered around on numerous pieces of furniture, trying to avoid Luffy's intense gaze. She stared at him, analysing his body language as she contemplated what she was going to reveal.

"Trae."

"Yeah?"

"Remember that conversation we had a couple of months back?" she asked, immediately gaining his full attention.

"How could I forget?" He said dramatically, a loose smile forming naturally on his face when he realised that this was a more personal conversation. His body visibly relaxed. He leant back against the nearest wall, shoved his hands into his pockets, pulled out a gold coin and immediately began running it through his fingers.

"Roronoa Zoro"

"I've heard of him," he stated nonchalantly, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"I've heard rumours that he's in Shells town."

"And why does that have anything to do with us?"

"If it's true. We'll leave after our business in Shells. I'm taking it as a sign." She finally admitted, showing the excitement in her eyes. Trae, however, was understandably shocked. His laid back attitude was immediately replaced by that of a frustrated college student.

"What?"

"We're leaving. Remember – you said you'd come with."

"I know, I know... I didn't forget... but now? Like really? I haven't had time to prepare! Do you want me running round in the same 3 pieces of clothes? What about all my possessions? And you know I didn't think to ask this before... I thought it would ruin the moment, but where exactly are we going?" he inquired, trying to keep the frustration and panic out of his voice – it didn't work.

Luffy smirked, "You'll see, and I've already got all of your stuff. Have done for months. Stop worrying about it."

"Huh? Wait... really? Luffy what the..."

"Oh, stop fussing, just go with it!"

"But... "

"Shhh"

"Thanks..." he deadpanned

"You're welcome!" she exclaimed, leaping up and making him jump. She beamed, making her way out of the cabin and leaving Trae with a massive headache to work out.

And so, their journey began. It wasn't going to be easy, and they wouldn't have even dreamed of the things that were to come (well, one of them could). There will be trials that they may think will break them, darkness enshrouds their path. But they would find friendship and form a family that would spread terror across all the seas until they were free, and nobody could touch them.

And personally, I think that's worth it.


	3. Little Birds

"It's not that I don't trust you, I just… don't believe this is your best idea" Trae doubted, as he watched the small island grow closer to them. Anticipation built in his stomach; it was as if a thousand panicked insects were whizzing around inside him. He was leaning against the railing of the ship, attempting to centre himself as Luffy stood beside him, facing her cabin.

"Can you please stop going on about that! We've been talking about it for two hours. It's getting on my nerves. We'll be fine! I've had everything planned for months." She repeated in exasperation, examining his worried expression subtly as she dumped a giant rucksack in his arms. She had fetched it a few minutes ago before being badgered into another complaining session, featuring Trae and his lack of adventure.

"But- Luffy…" he attempted

"Come on! What are you so worried about? I've had permission to go and to take you with me. As long as you stick with me, we'll be fine! And plus – remember I said IF Roronoa Zoro was in Shells. If not, then you're free to go back to your little world for another couple of months."

"I know, I know… It still doesn't stop me from worrying" he stated, a grim look falling on his face as he stared down at the decking beneath his feet

Luffy softened slightly,

"Trae… I'm doing this for you - for both of us. You know that, right?" A tense silence surrounded them for a few moments before he spoke.

"Yeah, yeah, sure… to freedom!" he cheered, a smile warming his face as he lifted his fist into the air. On seeing this, Luffy's mouth turned into a 'D' also raising her fist to the air.

"To freedom!" she shouted, laughing as she jumped onto the railing, taking in the dark waters around her. After a few minutes, she hopped back down, looking back to Trae. Her face was set back in its usual mask as if nothing had happened.

"Anyway- we're almost there. Go put any personal belongings in there that you can't live without." She ordered, pointing to the bag. Even behind the no-nonsense-shut-up-and-do-what-I-say look, he could tell she was excited. It was the happiest he had ever seen her in the short time they had known each other. Sighing and shaking his head, he smiled tensely before heading towards the staff cabin.

Walking over to the hammock in which he had slept in for their most recent voyage, he jumped up and lay down in it, closing his eyes for a second. He thought back - back to when he first found himself in this predicament. Opening his eyes, he lifted his wrist, staring at the pattern. It was beautiful – in some ways. The intricate design almost looked alive in the dim light of the sleeping quarters. Grimacing, he sighed, clenching his fist harshly. He felt the sharpness of his nails piercing his skin.

"To Freedom." He whispered

There was an air of peace and quiet to the village as they docked in the bay. An unnatural calm. Luffy had given everyone their tasks before they had gotten within listening distance of the island. The crew would be split into four teams. One would stay on the ship in case of any problems that may arise. Another would scout around the town gathering general info about the marine base and/or any groups that they may have use for in their network. Team 3 would attempt to gather resources for the voyage ahead. Then finally, there would be Luffy's team – consisting of only her most trusted officers: Trae, and a couple of inside members, part of her adoptive family. They would be storming the marine base. The units would be staggered so they wouldn't alert suspicion to the boat – they didn't want _another_ unwilling guest.

Luffy and Trae left the vessel at the same time, nodding to each other before running ahead of the team. It was unusual that nothing gave way to the silence that gripped the town. Something was off. As they approached the gates of the base, a crowd of people appeared, surrounding the building in some sort of protest. Luffy arrived minutes before the rest of the group and blended in with the crowd. In listening out for anything of interest, she immediately started to piece the picture together. Her face turned deathly serious as storms brewed in her eyes, sharpening to look for a solution. Words buzzed through her, continually assaulting her mind. They felt like waves ripping against her brittle walls– she needed to be in control of her emotions. She couldn't feel her hand as she dug her nails deeply into her palm, drawing blood. She slithered through the gathering of people, trying to stay calm but close enough to see what was happening.

"Execution…I can't…"

"How… marines"

"This is…"

"Right!"

"Let him…"

"Who does…"

"Roronoa Zoro"

"Roronoa Zoro" She repeated, muttering under her breath.

"Don't you even fucking think about dying."

Meanwhile, Trae was battling with a somewhat different reaction to the news as he heard the mutterings around him. He slumped onto his knees, emitting a resigned aura while asking the gods why his fate had come to this. His moment of desperation mixed with depression was brief, however, as he soon spotted a familiar bright pink shock of hair. He quickly recomposed himself and went to stand beside the small boy. He put a hand on his shoulder, making the boy flinch as he turned to see who was holding him.

"What's a cabin boy from a pirate ship doing at the gate of a marine base?" he asked quietly.

"Who ar-"

"Who I am is of no importance… can you tell me what's going on here?"

"Roronoa Zoro is about to be executed; apparently, he assaulted the Captain's son."

"Hmm… come with me." He stated, Leading him over to the wall of the marine base. "Can you climb up?"

"Huh?" the small boy asked, dumbly pointing to himself and then the wall in confusion. Trae ended up giving him a boost before proceeding to scale it too to view the show. This was going to be good.

As Zoro awaited the inferior blade that was about to end his sad, miserable life, he grieved. He grieved for his friend, for his swords and for his dream. He kept slipping in and out of consciousness due to the lack of food and water. His will to live was fading with each passing second. It appeared that the marines were getting ready to end his life as the blade was lifted. In turn, he closed his eyes as he heard the swish of the blade aiming for his neck. But instead, a shout ruptured his serenity. He opened his eyes, straining at the light that assaulted his pupils as he felt them attempt to adjust.

"Stop! STOP you fucking idiot! Do you know how hard it is it get fate to align itself for you? Now put the blade down, or I'll kill every one of you – capiche?" a girl ran out of the crowd holding a pistol at the marine. Her face was covered by a hat, but to anyone who had met her before, the person's identity was obvious.

There was a moment of hesitation from the soldier, and she took her chance. Steadying herself, she fired, aiming for the head. There was a moment of silence as the bang echoed through the courtyard, Zoro's eyes bulged as he watched the man crumple unceremoniously to the floor along with the sword that was about to take his life.

"Join me and I'll save you." She stated, walking up to him and examining his condition. She reached out her hand and lifted his chin, looking into his eyes

"Wha-?" He croaked out

"Say yes you idiot."

"Yes?" he said slowly

"Now stay awake, or I'll kill you."

It was then that a booming voice filled the courtyard. Luffy stopped for a second, assessing the situation.

"Who are you?" The large pig headed oaf shouted from behind a crowd of marines.

"Why do you have an axe for an arm." she deadpanned, completely ignoring his question. He may have been big, but he was definitely stupid. Luffy could sense it, but him having a massive axe for a hand sort of gave it away… why would you screw with your balance like that? It would put way too much weight on one side, making him useless in any kind of battle, never mind daily life.

"Who do you think you are to interrupt my execution?" He shouted, ignoring her question as well.

"Oh look, they're a perfect match," Trae said conversationally to Coby. They were a pair of opposites, Coby, who was watching the altercation in complete shock while Trae had a massive grin on his face.

"Me? I'm the future King of the Pirates. Also, I'm not interrupting you. You almost murdered one of my potential crewmates. You're the one at fault here." She exclaimed in exasperation.

"Get her." He snarled. The big coward was hiding behind his own men… how typical. As sorry as she felt for the blind soldiers, she felt that it was about time she had some fun.

What proceeded could only be described as chaos. Coby and Trae dangled their legs over the wall watching the insanity that was Luffy slice and shoot all offending targets. An uppercut shattered someone's ribs, leaving them wheezing on the floor in agony. Another was shot in the mouth, swallowing the bullet as it perforated his skull. Blood drained from the faces of the onlookers, the packed crowd staggered backwards, quickly dissipating until hardly anyone was left. The brutality of her actions, paired with utter indifference was terrifying.

She was pulling her short sword out of a faceless marine when the coward spoke again. At this point, the marines had got the point; they were starting to hesitate. Unfortunately, this meant that the idiot was running thin on patience.

"You're all cowards! If you don't have the guts to fight, then you don't deserve to live." He spat at the ground, moving forward as the Marines scattered. He held out his monstrosity of an arm in front of his grotesque body.

"All you cowards should shoot yourselves" He shouted. This, however, was not received the way he expected it to be. Faint sniggering could be heard in the background, slowly turning into full-blown laughter. He felt his face go red and his vision blurred. The noise was coming from the red vested brat in the middle of the courtyard.

It stopped.

He blinked, eyes sharpening. All he saw was a small fist before his vision went black.

"Well… that's sorted then." Luffy said brightly, dusting off her knuckle, even though it only really moved around the blood on her hands. There was a pause, almost as if time had stopped when a shout echoed through the courtyard.

"Stop!" a voice practically squealed. Luffy's shoulders dropped before she spun around only to be assaulted by a head of bright blond hair. His hands were trembling; watching him cautiously, she subtly reached for her gun. He looked at the oaf on the floor in apprehension.

"Wait." Zoro just about managed to croak. "My swords."

She eyed the weakling, he was scared. That much was obvious. This could work in her favour.

"You don't want to do that…" she said calmly. Her voice was steady, taking a step forward. The boy clutched the gun tighter, it was his lifeline. His eyes moved to his father again. She took another step forward. Panicking, he moved his gun towards her, shooting in desperation. The bullet stopped in mid-air. She raised an eyebrow.

"Told you."

He collapsed.

At that, there was a loud cheer as the marines around her threw their hats in the air.

She took this moment to look around her and she spotted him - Trae was sitting on a wall reasonably far back with the small boy from the grossly pink ship they had attacked earlier. Her eyes glossed over her family members who had disguised themselves in the crowd. She nodded subtly, When they had arrived, she nodded at her second in command – Bri who had a knowing smile on his face.

"Have fun there Lu?" he asked

"Always." She stated, a sly grin on her face

"The bird has to fly the nest eventually – we all knew it was coming. We'll take care of this mess, don't you worry."

"We'll be back for our stuff shortly," Luffy said, giving him a quick smile before whispering to Trae and running off with the captain's son to look for Zoro's swords. At this time, the crowd had mostly dissipated, not wanting to watch the massacre. Minus a few stragglers. Trae smiled softly, looking over his new companion as he released him from his bonds.

"Come on big man – let's get you sorted."

It took longer than Luffy would have liked to admit in finding the room off the weak blond. It only takes so long before you realise you're running around in circles. It was obvious when she got there though. The twig had collapsed outside the room, she had propped him up against the door before going to look for the swords. They weren't hard to spot - being out of place in the pastel pink room.

Grabbing them, she sneaked out of the window - disappearing without a trace.

By the time Zoro had recovered, their ship was long gone. They were staying in a small inn, off of the main street and away from anyone who may recognise them from their stunt at the marine base. Which was hard considering that Zoro was one of the most infamous people in town. After Trae had found him stuff to eat and drink (in moderation, considering he was on the verge of starvation and dehydration) he had basically slept for a solid 36 hours. Luffy had only come to check in on them twice, dropping off supplies and talking briefly to Trae about preparations for the voyage. Thankfully, her time training with her adoptive family had worn off, she looked completely unrecognisable from the blood-stained psychopath from earlier. She had removed her hat, giving it to Trae for safekeeping, and was now wearing a short summer dress that she must have bought in town. Sometimes, he thought that she was too charismatic for her own good. She had been bringing in random supplies for their voyage ahead, keeping them in boxes in one part of the small apartment.

"How is he?" She asked quietly, leaning against the door frame to the room Zoro was sleeping in. Trae moved over to her.

"Recovered for the most part. We could probably leave today if you wanted," he replied in the same tone. There was a soft groan from behind them alerting their attention to Zoro. He hadn't managed to really see Luffy all that much since the incident at the square, whenever she came in, he was either asleep or much too out of it to care. But now he felt much better. He sat up, leaning against the headboard. He had so many questions, and Trae hadn't helped answer any of them. Mainly because he was too out of it to process anything but still. It would have been nice to have some answers. He looked at Luffy, a frown of contemplation plastered on his face.

"So, where do we go from here?"


	4. Of Red Hair and Oranges

"So, where do we go from here?" Luffy turned around to face Zoro, a small grin on her face.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed, practically bouncing over to the small cot he was settled on. Trae was less enthusiastic as he walked over, the exhaustion evident from the bags under his eyes.

"If you're feeling up for it, we were thinking of setting off today." Trae yawned, rubbing one side of his face as he sat on a nearby chair. Zoro paused before he nodded, trying to sort through what had happened in the last few days.

"There is one thing I need to say before we go anywhere," Luffy raised an eyebrow, indicating with her hand for him to continue.

"If you get in the way of my dream - I won't hesitate to slit your throat and go my own way." He was serious. Trae pursed his lips, taking a sharp inhale as a dozen different outcomes flickered through his mind. Luffy was silent for a second.

"Well - for one - what's your dream? But there's another thing you're not considering. Can you even get anywhere near my throat?"

"To be the World's greatest swordsman."

"Hm. I would expect nothing less," She held out her hand, nodding in agreement as a broad grin made its way onto her face. He smirked back, taking her hand while manoeuvring himself off the bed.

"So, where are we going?"

"Why don't we discuss this over breakfast?" she beamed, patting a half-asleep Trae on the shoulder - making him jump.

Piles of food were stacked in front of them - so much so that they could barely see each other. It was a banquet fit for kings.

"Now, we can talk," she stated, although her eyes betrayed her distraction at the food around her. Trae's exhaustion came crashing over him in waves as he headbutted his plate in front of him. The other two started to inhale the piles of food and drink. An hour later, Trae had woken up and somehow Zoro and Luffy had become best friends.

Attempting to shake the sleep out of his head, he tried to listen in to the conversation - which was virtually impossible considering Luffy had a mouth full of food. Well, he may as well get the.

"So Luffy - Where are we going?" They stopped eating for a second as she managed to swallow her food before clearing her throat.

"We're going to the Grandline." She said nonchalantly "as Pirates, of course, I can't be anything else if I'm going to become the Pirate King."

Silence followed.

"Makes sense," Zoro agreed seriously, nodding

"Grandline?" Trae repeated weakly. A massive 'D' grin encompassed Luffy's face.

"Anyway, something's been bugging me. Out of all the possible things you could have done, why did you become a bounty hunter?" She inquired, looking at Zoro and completely ignoring her other companion's distress.

There was another moment of silence.

"Wouldn't it have made more sense to become a Pirate? You do know that the world's greatest swordsman is a Pirate right." Trae deadpanned after he had broken out of his daze, he really should have learned to not be shocked by the things Luffy says by now.

"I got lost?" He replied truthfully, shrugging his shoulders. Luffy seemed to take this as an adequate answer as she put her arm around his shoulders.

"Well then Zoro, welcome to the crew!" she exclaimed, holding her cup towards the sky.

To Freedom,

To Promises,

To Answers.

They had just about finished their meal when a marine tool came in.

"Oh shit - hide," Luffy whispered loudly. They ducked underneath the table watching him walk up to the bar.

"Have you seen these outlaws?" He asked the bartender, holding a piece of paper with a couple of rough sketches on them. Trae caught a glimpse from under the table, both Luffy and Zoro were clearly recognisable. Thankfully he hadn't been noticed in the chaos. The bartender hesitated, sending a subtle glance to their table, before shaking her head at the marine.

"Thank you for your time, Madame." He stated, looking suspiciously around the room and he left. Luffy popped her head back up. She left the table and walked over to the bar.

"Thank you." She murmured, placing a stack of Beli on the counter. Motioning to the others, the three left the inn.

When they arrived at the docks, arms loaded with the rest of the supplies, it was clear that Trae and Zoro weren't impressed.

"So, where's the boat?" Trae asked with faux cheeriness, looking around the area for one that looked suitable for their journey and finding none in his field of vision.

"What do you mean? It's right over there," She pointed to a vessel at the far left of the docs.

It was… not what they were expecting…

"That… is not a boat."

"What do you mean? It's perfect" Luffy exclaimed, running towards it. Trae was right. It was not a boat. It looked like someone had shoved a bunch of wooden planks together and hoped it would float.

"I am not getting on that, It's not seaworthy! How do you expect to get to the Grand line on that piece of shit!" He exclaimed. He was greeted with a blank stare, as she tapped the boat. Trae felt the urge to bash his head against the thing if he didn't think it would break if he did.

"So, it's just us?" Zoro asked as he took a tentative step onto the boat.

"Yup! We're going to get at least another 3 before heading to the Grand line though," said Luffy

"Luffy - you do realise that crews of over 100 have tried and failed on the line?" Trae asked, but was ignored. He still stood safely on the ground, but not for as long as he would have liked as

Luffy grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the boat.

"We'll be fine!" She assured patting him on the shoulder as Zoro hoisted the anchor, setting sail on their journey to fame, family and fortune.

As they sailed off into the horizon, a small boy sat on the docks. He stared at their boat, deep in thought. Those were the types of people he wanted to stop. He clenched his fist, determination set in his eyes. Whether it be pirates, bandits, or even marines. He would stop them, and he would lock away them somewhere so dark and deep that they'd never be able to see the light of day ever again.

"Shit." She muttered to herself as she glanced behind her. There were 5 pirates in total, it wasn't too many to take by herself, but by the time she had beaten them more would have shown up. Why did she think that taking that map would be a good idea? Oh right - treasure. Her greed was going to get her into some serious trouble one of these days. Scratch that - it had already gotten her into serious trouble. Turning a corner, she saw a perfect opportunity to hide - a dark alleyway. Sliding in, she hid in the shadows. The idiots rounded the corner not a minute later, not even glancing at her hiding spot.

Now - the next order of business - how the fuck does she get off this island? She waited for about half an hour - hoping the pirates would have given up on their search by then.

Sneaking through the town was easier than she thought it would be - Buggy must have thought that his massive bombs were enough of a deterrent for people. As if on cue - there was another explosion that echoed behind her. Wincing slightly from the noise, she continued onward, finding herself in a small clearing. In the centre, there was a pet shop - or what had been a pet-shop until recently, going by the massive lion that was currently eating the small building. There was a small dog to the side whimpering. It was alive, but it had taken a hit. It would be fine in a day or so. She walked over to it, sitting silently next to it as she stroked its fur in an attempt to calm the poor creature. She gathered from its stare that it was more distressed over the destruction of the pet store than its own injuries. Sighing, she looked at the small thing in pity.

"It'll be alright small one."

This was why she hated pirates.

She picked him up carefully, sneaking past the massive beast. She spotted another figure who had been knocked down. He looked reasonably old, as she approached, she felt her heart in her chest. To someone of his age, a hit could be fatal. To her relief, she saw that he was still breathing. looking him over, she could tell he had no injuries. He must have been here when the Lion attacked the store and got caught in the crossfire. He groaned quietly, making her jump. Opening his eyes, he saw the blurred image of her ginger hair.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly as he blinked at her. He sat up, scrunching up his face before looking at her in panic.

"Chou Chou!" he scrambled up - quite impressive for a man of his age, and then he noticed the small dog in her hands and his posture relaxed instantly.

"The dog?" She asked and he nodded in reply.

"I was trying to get him back to the camp we set up when the lion attacked. That stubborn little dog. Why don't you follow me - the rest of the villagers took refuge in the mountains over there." The lion was conveniently still distracted as they walked away quickly to a safer area.

"Why didn't he leave the village when you evacuated?"

"Ahh - it's a sad story that one - the poor thing's owner is the late proprietor of the pet-store. They had a deep connection, but he died recently. Chou Chou's been guarding the pet store ever since"

"Doesn't he know of his owner's death?"

"He's aware - but he wants to protect what was precious to him." She looked down at the dog, stroking the top of his head "he seems to have taken a liking to you though!" He smiled. It was then that they entered the camp.

"Here we are - you can stay for a bit if you like - I'm not sure how long the pirates are going to be moored here though." She hummed in response, thinking that she should probably leave tomorrow, but thanked the man anyway.

The small dog in her arms whined as if to convey his disappointment.

"Sorry Chou Chou... I can't stay long" she smiled halfheartedly at him, ruffling the fur on the top of his head.

She left early in the morning the next day, thanking the man who turned out to be the Mayor before heading out. Thankfully, Chou Chou was still worn out from the day before so she didn't have to suffer from his puppy eyes. She'd always had a soft spot for animals.

She managed to get to the docks without being seen. But as fate would have it - her luck ran out as she bumped into some pirates - the same ones that were trying to get her yesterday.

"There she is!" one of the goons shouted

"Fuck."

Trae had taken the role of temporary navigator as they made their way to the next town over in search of more crew-mates and supplies (and a new boat, Trae insisted). This had taken less time than they had thought.

"Look a bird! Land must be close!," Trae exclaimed, clearly relieved to soon be leaving the wooden disaster Luffy had dubbed a boat. Luffy jumped up in excitement, practically bouncing over to where Trae stood to get a better look at the creature.

"It must be massive…"

"Eh, it looks pretty small to me," She said to herself, dismissing his words.

"Yeah, but things far away look smaller than in real life. I bet it could swallow you in one go before you could even attempt to catch it"

"I think you underestimate the power of my hunger" she laughed "Ooh! Look, land!"

"I just said so didn't I?" Trae deadpanned, looking at where she was pointing. It was a tiny speck in the distance. In the corner of the boat, Zoro (who had been sleeping heavily through most of the voyage, the lucky bastard) opened one eye.

"Did someone say somethin' about land?" he slurred, half asleep as he sat up.

"Yeah we're coming up on some now, it'll take about 20 minutes," Trae answered.

"You know what that means," Luffy smirked, her eyes lighting up

"More sake!-"

"More food!-" Both of the knuckleheads shouted at the same time, Trae looked at them with a mix of disappointment and exasperation

"There's two of them…" He sighed as he resisted the urge to bash his skull against the makeshift steering device for the twentieth time.

As they came closer to the island, it was clear something was wrong. Pillars of billowing smoke rose high into the sky. A loud boom echoed across the water, followed by only the sound of the water lapping up against the side of the boat. Luffy - who had been sat talking to (annoying) Zoro - stood suddenly. Her eyes sharpening, as she stared at the island in front of them.

"Let's go," Luffy stated

Zoro also stood, gripping the hilts of his swords.

"That doesn't look good…"

"Aye," Trae agreed with him, looking fiercely at the horizon as the other two grabbed the paddles and started rowing.

They practically leapt off of the boat when they got to shore. Luffy's anger was obviously rising, which was never a good sign.

"I'll look for any survivors. You guys see if you can salvage any supplies from the wreckage." Trae stated, trying to diffuse Luffy's anger. It worked a little as her shoulders relaxed.

"Who died and made you boss?" she asked with a forced smile. He grinned back, winking as he walked off in the opposite direction. She raised an eyebrow at his back, an actual grin forming on her face as she turned to Zoro.

"Well, shall we do as his majesty commands?"

The problem with this plan was that while Trae didn't find any survivors… Luffy had found the goddamn _Mayor _of the town and a dog! All he had managed to salvage was some slowly decaying apples. There was a worm in one of the apples - that technically counts as a survivor, right?

They were re-united in a clearing near the centre of town.

"We found where it's coming from." Luffy pointed to a large circus tent near the docks.

"How did we miss that?" Trae asked, looking at the monstrosity before turning round to look back at her, noticing something "and where's Zoro"

As a matter of fact, Zoro was very close. He stopped for a second looking around.

"Where'd everyone go?"

He saw an intersection in front of him which he followed, leading him to a long _straight_ road. He spotted the small group ahead of him.

"Oh look - there he is!" Luffy shouted pointing to the green looking blur she waved, Zoro waved back and started running towards them. That was when they realised the problem. He had gone down another alleyway. They stared at the place they had seen him a few moments ago in shock. Luffy - in her wisdom - decided to go after the idiot, coming back a few moments later with a very disorientated Zoro.

"How did you guys get over here?" He asked seriously while both the Mayor and Trae stared at him blankly, trying to figure out how on earth he had been able to survive at sea for longer than five seconds. Before anyone could respond, a large explosion suddenly destroyed the building in front of them.

It tipped the Mayor over the edge. Fists clenched in anger, his whole body started shaking.

"That's It! I've had enough of these pirates terrorising my town!" he wheezed, almost coughing on his own anger. Luffy looked at him worriedly, pursing her lips as he started to cough violently

He fell to the floor in a heap after Luffy had knocked him in the back of his head. The dog barked, making a surprising amount of noise for a creature its size. Trae went to check his condition to placate the dog and in case she had knocked him a bit too hard. He proceeded to take him to a safer place. When he stood back to his full height, the three comrades and a dog turned to face the massive striped tent. The glint in their eyes promised death and destruction, the dog tapped angrily by their side.

They were going to give this town back to its people. Whatever it took.

"Who's in charge here?" a voice echoed across the pirate camp.

"Who's asking?" a rather strange looking pirate asked. His position in the crew was obvious from the hat he was wearing. However, his most distinguishing feature was his nose…

"Red nose?" Zoro cocked his head sideways, pointing at the pirates face to try and make out whether the man really liked clowns or if it was part of his face.

"Luffy?!" another voice shouted in excitement, Trae felt it run through him as he filled with dread. The dog let out a cheerful bark as it started running towards the noise.

He could recognise that shrill voice anywhere.

Fuck.

"Nami!?" Luffy practically screeched - making the men next to her flinch slightly (not that Zoro would ever admit that).

And just like that - she shot off towards the voice she heard. It was coming from a girl who was tied up near a large pole off to the side of the temporary base camp.

"Oh my god! I've not seen you in ages! How have you been? And Chou Chou - what are you doing here?" Nami squealed in delight - suddenly indifferent to her current predicament.

"I know! It's been forever! I sort of left the group - but It's all good! Trae's with me - How are you?!" she replied in the exact same tone, the dog somehow also conveyed the same level of excitement as he licked her face.

Meanwhile, the pirates surrounding them looked on in shock- except for Trae who had accepted his fate as a permanent fixture on the pavement. Zoro was looking on with amusement as he raised an eyebrow at both Trae and the Girls. After a few seconds, he decided to ask the lump on the floor about the occurrence.

"Does this happen often?"

"Too often - I was hoping to be long gone from this world by the time they next met" came the muffled reply as Trae continued to stare darkly at the floor in front of him. After about a minute, however, he'd decided it was far too uncomfortable and sat up. The girls had finished their brief catch up at this point and Luffy had untied Nami's bindings without anyone noticing, using the pirate's shock at their lack of complete disregard for the current situation as a distraction. It soon ran its course as the clown bugged out, noticing what they had done. His eyes practically came out of their sockets.

"Hey! Straw-hat, what are you doing!" He screeched, managing to go an octave higher than the two ladies had earlier. Luffy looked up - frozen in place as she was in the middle of offering her hand to help Nami get up. Her hat obscured her eyes, as she snapped her head in his direction. There was a moment of silence. Nami took Luffy's hand and pulled herself to her full height, picking up Chou Chou in the process.

"Did your mother never teach you manners! How dare you interrupt another person's conversation!" He stood still for a second, perplexed at her response.

"Sorry? Wait... No - you! How dare you not answer me! Do you know who I am?"

"Do you know how I am?" Luffy countered raising an eyebrow as she walked back to Trae and Zoro. Trae still looked like he was in the middle of having an existential crisis - but what's new there. Zoro was clearly impressed and was having trouble holding in his laughter.

"What? How's that relevant? This is not a game little girl! I'm Buggy the Clown! A pirate with one of the highest bounties In East Blue!" He shouted proudly. At this Luffy looked to Trae who subtly nodded. He had snapped out of his tantrum as the argument between Luffy and Buggy came to its climax. She smirked as Trae rose to his feet. Nami put down the dog, telling him to go and check on the Mayor.

"How about we heat this up a little?" she said quietly to her comrades, giving them a small smile. There was an unspoken arrangement that this was their chance to show off their skills. Zoro practically buzzed with excitement, having not fought anyone in a while; Nami gripped the bo-staff that she had somehow retrieved from her confiscated belongings; Trae gripped one of the many concealed knives on his person.

"Really? How's that a brag? You do realise we're in the East Blue right? That's not that difficult to achieve. Anyway, how could anyone take you seriously with that **big red nose**!" she shouted, before falling into peals of laughter, pointing at the offending feature.

His face went redder than his nose.

"How dare you! Men - get them!" He spat, attempting to regain some of his pride.

Luffy removed her pipe from it's resting place on her back and jumped towards the Captain. The others split up, Zoro managing to find a suitable duelling partner in an acrobatic swordsman, Nami and Trae were surrounded by grunts and an unnaturally hairy man who was riding an unnaturally large lion. The lion felt chills go down his spine as Nami was glaring at him with pure malice.

Zoro's eyes sharpened in concentration as he observed the stance of the monkey in front of him. To be fair - by looking at his posture, it was clear that he was more suited to acrobatics than swordsmanship - but Zoro could never forgive him for one very grievous error. This _CLOWN _dared to hold his weapon like a common kitchen knife? How much disrespect could you have? He was so caught up in horror that he almost missed Cabaji's very cliched 'villain' speech.

"So... you're the infamous 'pirate hunter'. Your reputation proceeds you. Well - no matter, I'll teach you to mess with Cap'n Buggy's crew"

Zoro stared at him with pity.

"Oh, don't you worry - this will be over _very _soon."

The acrobat barely had time to finish laughing maniacally when Zoro launched at him. The three blades almost hit too close to home, but the man managed to step back just in time.

"Your posture makes me sick" Zoro managed to grit out between the sword clenched between his jaws. He lunged again, knocking the man off guard as he fell backwards. He used his acrobatic skill to regain his balance by flipping backwards. Zoro was toying with him now and he was getting frustrated. He had to kick it up a notch. Cabaji leapt up into the air and started to breathe fire in Zoro's general direction, he managed to dodge out of the way, a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Oni-Giri"

The fight was over. A body crumpled to the ground - A deep cross-shaped gash on his chest.

Luffy had taken to watching this fight with interest. Her fighting partner had thought it to be a brilliant idea to help Cabaji with his battle - She'd disagreed. This was how she found herself holding onto a detached hand - never in a million years could she have predicted that. It was hard not to hear of the infamous pirate in passing (but she hadn't been sure if his name was 'buggy' or 'baggy'), but he'd obviously kept his devil fruit a secret. It was a surprising feat, given that the network hadn't known about it, and they're usually thorough to an extreme.

"I'm your partner. Not him." She stated firmly, letting go of the hand and running towards Buggy for another attempted hit. Fuck. His body parts dissipated again. She needed a new strategy. Channelling her inner Trae, she made a few more hits, analysing her opponent. He had been talking at her the entire time, but she couldn't really care less.

Aha! Got you.

However, before she could enact this genius plan, Buggy had a bit of a breakdown. Surprised, she started paying attention to his words.

"That hat! That damn hat won't stop reminding me of that bastard!"

"This hat?" she asked, taken aback

"Yes! That damn Shanks wouldn't take it off for a second! He ruined my life!"

"Shanks?"

Nami had taken out her anger on the lion at the beginning of the fight, leaving Trae to fend off the rest. In the end, however (once the lion was knocked out) she decided to help him. This leads them to their current predicament. They stood back to back, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

"Oh for crying out loud, would you shut up about that?" He shouted over his shoulder after hitting another goon in the side with his knife. Nami span her staff, giving another a firm jab under their jaw

"What! How could you even ask me to do that? I'll never let you live it down, it was hilarious!"

"Oh my... God!" He hit another two grunts

"I have half a mind to tell Luffy about it - she would appreciate it" She giggled, attacking the massive lion

"Don't you even dare- behind you!" he shouted as another pirate tried to attack her from behind.

"Thanks..." She panted.

"No problem" He winked at her before plunging a dagger into another victim.

This was starting to get tiring, thankfully only a dozen pirates now remained.

"How about this - I'll go grab the map - and you keep them distracted?"

"That's a terrible plan"

"And?" She stated before quickly running off in the direction of the map. Trae sighed deeply, closing his eyes briefly to focus

"Let's do this" A grin slid onto his face, it wasn't like she'd given him much choice. May as well enjoy it.

"How did he do that?"

She shouldn't have asked that. She definitely shouldn't have asked that.

Buggy then proceeded to tell her his life story. Basically, this Shank's dude had forced him to eat a Devil fruit (that they thought to be fake at the time) and Buggy had let go of a treasure map just after, making it fall into the water. In his hunger for treasure, he jumped in afterwards, which then resulted in saving his anchor ass from certain doom. Luffy stared at him with increasing disbelief as she heard the story. What kind of idiot was he?

"And that is why I can't stand that damn hat!" He shouted.

"So what you're saying - hear me out here - is that he saved your life," She deadpanned, and not two seconds later, a detached hand flew towards her hat. The moments that proceeded went in slow motion; numbness spread through her mind as the hand grew closer. The hat was lifted from her head and she saw a flash of silver. Her head pulsed, the pain concentrating in her temples.

In the furthest corner of her mind, there was a blurred image. A small girl stood on the docks, blubbering uncontrollably. Next to her was a tall man. His hair was blood red, a bright smile warming his face. This was when she noticed that his arm was missing. It looked like a recent wound. She attempted to make the image clearer and she noticed something. There was a hat in this man's hand. He crouched down, gently placing it on the girl's head.

"Do me a favour - look after this for me - you can give it back to me when you're strong enough to find me"

The girl was her.

She stumbled backwards, falling hard on the floor. She tripped over, and the ground brought her back to reality as she attempted to focus on her breathing. Blinking furiously, she attempted to quell the fuzziness in her brain as the pain subsided. The hat was on the floor beside her, three holes disrupted the straw hatching. She looked back at Buggy who was looking at her in confusion. Regaining her composure, she stood and ran at him. He didn't have time to react as she grabbed hold of his shirt.

"What colour is that man's hair!" She shouted as she shook him vigorously. Something had clearly shaken her.

"What?"

"What colour is Shanks' hair?!" Desperation slipped into her voice.

"It's red!"

She let go of his shirt.

"Red?" She muttered weakly, it was too much to be a coincidence.

Buggy saw an opening. Lunging, he aimed his dagger at her waist. If he had been paying more attention, he wouldn't have missed the storm brewing in her eyes as she quickly stored the information in the back of her mind to focus on the fight. The pipe in her hands buzzed as she clenched her fist tightly around it. She dodged his knife, sprinting towards the other half of his body as she kicked him in his privates, quickly sweeping her leg underneath his feet. His face went white with pain, and he was almost too distracted to notice Nami sneaking out of his tent with all of his treasure.

"Hey! That's my treasure!" He shouted, leaving Luffy with his feet his torso flew over to Nami. Luffy looked at him in disbelief. She grinned maliciously at his feet, holding her pipe out in front of her as she began to wack the ground in front of her. Buggy's flight path zig-zagged as he was having trouble concentrating - wincing every time she managed to hit. He turned around and shouted at her.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT!"

Luffy looked up innocently, shrugging her shoulders as if she didn't know what he was talking about before landing a hit on his foot once again. Meanwhile, Nami hit him over the head with her staff, proceeding to tie up any stray body parts as quick as she could.

"It's time to finish this!" He shouted "Bara-bara-reassemble!"

He was speechless as he looked down at his misshapen form. Most of his limbs had been tied up by Nami, who then threw them into the bottom of the ocean.

"Oops?" She said sheepishly - grinning at the shrunken pirate. Luffy jumped over to the pair, crouching down to be at the correct height.

"Where can I find this Shanks person?" Buggy looked at her in disbelief.

"On the grand line - where else would you find a Yonko?" Luffy blinked several times, processing this information. At this moment, Nami decided to kick the small clown into the sky. She watched him disappear into the horizon, jumping when Luffy shouted loudly beside her.

"THAT SHANKS!?"

Her brain raced to compartmentalise as she stood. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. When she opened them again, she noticed Nami looking at her with worried eyes. Placing a hand on her shoulder, she nodded in reassurance.

The two girls turned to face the rest of the hideout. It was in a state of disrepair, their fight had destroyed the area. Trae and Zoro had finished their fights earlier and had sat back to enjoy the show (although it became less enjoyable a few moments ago when they were deafened by Luffy's shout).

"Nami - Zoro... Zoro - Nami. Now we're all properly introduced, I have an announcement." Determination coursed through her as she re-planned their journey in light of the new lead.

"And that is?" Trae enquired

"We need to get to the Grand line."

"Wasn't that the original plan?" Zoro asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, we've got a map," Nami stated, holding it up in front of her.

"I need to find Shanks." Trae and Nami gaped at her as Zoro nodded briefly - attempting to make it look like he knew who she was on about..

"Shanks as in..." Nami muttered quietly

"The Marine" she deadpanned "Who else do you think I'm talking about. Red Haired Shanks! Apparently, he's the owner of this hat." she pointed at her head.

"Is there any particular reason you have a Yonko's hat?" Trae asked, exasperation slipping into his voice as he rubbed his temples.

"No. Fucking. Clue."


	5. Pressure

**A/N I keep forgetting to put in authors notes on fanfiction when I've been updating the chapters, I'm so sorry about that. I wish fanfic was a bit like A03 but we can't have everything in life. Anyway, I'm sorry in advance? As of now it's gonna start to become a bit crazy so look forward to the shit show that's about to hit the station.**

**On another note, thank you for the response I've been getting! It's really encouraging. The pace should be picking up soon so look forward to that!**

They didn't stay very long on Orange Island, as moments after Luffy's reveal, an angry mob of townspeople chased them to the docks. It was to Trae's relief that they managed to get on a different boat than the poorly constructed raft that they had arrived on. The only downside was the ugly marking on the flag - but beggars can't be choosers. Nami plotted their course and once they were a safe enough distance from the island, she went to sit with the others.

"So how do you lot know each other?" Zoro asked

"Uggh, I don't want to relive that day ever again" Trae moaned, laying backwards. The girls smirked at each other

"Let's say it was a happy coincidence," Nami offered as her eyes practically turned into Beli signs in front of them

"Don't you mean unhappy" Trae butted in

"Oh shush you - it wasn't that bad."

"It was the day I was graced with your annoying presence for the first time - of course it was bad"

"Anyway," Luffy said pointedly, raising her voice over the two bickering morons. "Me and Trae were on a stealth mission..."

The night was silent, the silver moon glistened on top of the still water. Gliding through the water, their boat was being steered strategically towards a nobleman's vessel. Stood on the helm of the vessel was a small girl. Her dark hair was black as it flowed against the slight breeze.

"We're almost there" she stated quietly, looking at her companion who was standing further back and expertly steering the vessel.

"You got your stuff?" He enquired.

"Always." she winked back, going into the small cabin on the boat to get the Den Den Mushi. He heard her soft tones come from inside as she talked to her family on the other side. He tried to tune out, listening intently to the soft wind. It didn't work very well, he could still make out some of her muffled words. They talked for a few more minutes and then there was silence. Coming out of the cabin, she spoke.

"Let's get this party started!"

"Lets," They grinned at each other before taking their positions. Darkness suddenly surrounded them as clouds covered the silver light of the moon. This was their moment. Their vessel was now close enough to the target ship to board. Luffy tied the boat to a convenient post before climbing up the side of the boat - Trae close behind. It didn't take long to get to the area they needed to infiltrate. Slipping into the agar window, they found themselves in a dark room. It was small - probably a store cupboard. From there they silently navigated the underbelly of the ship, separating to cover as much ground as possible. They had separate missions, secrecy was everything in their business; even though Trae had since earned the trust of his handlers - he was still in the lower ranks of their organisation in regards to information.

His mind was taken back to the past, to when he had arrived at the complex. It had not been pretty. After he had been told about his newfound captivity - he had been taken back to headquarters. It was a massive underground complex on an island ironically named 'petal'.

He didn't think there was a single flower on that gross slab of land - it was a massive rubbish heap. The island was used by the rich on the surface - using slave labour to obtain resources. The network's policy of extreme secrecy had led to some rather extreme rules of conduct. Hence his predicament. In his three months, he'd made 5 escape attempts. They hadn't been the most genius of plans. Looking back, he had no idea why he had thought they'd work. The furthest he'd made it was the external tunnel, but he regretted it later. Luffy was the one that had caught him that time. When he saw her face it was a metaphorical stab in the gut, she tried to hide her emotions, but the guilt in her eyes was as clear as day. That was his last escape attempt. He spent six months in that hell-hole.

When he had finally been released, he was placed under Luffy's command. He was sure she must have pulled a few strings. To be honest, he was surprised that he was let out at all. He had been put through training for a few months, but then he was put on his first operation. It had been rough. The aim had been to retrieve some goods from a valued supplier. He hadn't realised how big the operation was. It took him longer to realise that the kind of work the organisation was doing. Yes, they may have labelled themselves an underground criminal network - but they were as evil as the Tenryubito were saints. His eyes had been opened to the world he'd been sheltered from all of his life - and he didn't like it one bit. Since this revelation, he'd been rising through the ranks as a trusted and determined member of the organisation. He still hated them, but his hatred of the world was greater. His only solace came from Luffy. She was a godsend. It was probably weird to think of your kidnapper like that. But he'd only ever seen her as his saviour, considering she had saved his life and all. They had become close friends over the three years they spent together, and he would follow her to the end of the world. The sparkle in her eyes which promised adventure, acceptance, and freedom.

He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and went back to his task; he had been looking for a small trinket, a specific nobleman's seal. It was bound to be around here somewhere. The informant had said as such - and they hadn't led them wrong so far. He looked for a way up - assuming that the presence of more people would lead him to his goal. Finally - after searching what felt like the hundredth room - he found it. Quickly pocketing his find, he ventured back downstairs to see if Luffy had done as she had been commissioned.

As was to be expected from one of the most capable officers of the network - Luffy was already waiting for him. He waved at her, but she was focused on something else. She was talking to someone. He raised a brow in confusion before walking up to the two.

Luffy made a beeline for the targets room, this was vital to the central goal of the organisation. She made quick work of the lock on the door and sneaked in. She looked around - nothing seemed out of place. The bed was well made, and there was barely any clutter around the room. She walked over to the desk - noticing a lock on one of the draws. She picked that one as well, opening the bottom draw and going through the papers. Aha - there it was. She quickly pocketed the document and locked the draw. She was about to leave the room when the door opened slightly and a ginger-haired girl about her age slipped in the room. She closed the door behind her and sagged against it. Luffy coughed slightly, getting her attention as she raised an eyebrow at the intruder. She spun around quickly, with the expression of a deer caught in headlights. Picking up a pen from the desk, Luffy twirled it around her fingers, assessing the girl. She was a thief, going by the reasonably large bag that she held beside her. So long as she didn't find out anything, and her mission was over so it couldn't hurt to talk - they were here for similar things after all.

"So, what's a girl like you doing on a nobleman's vessel?" She asked slyly, winking at the girl. She relaxed when she realised that Luffy wasn't a threat.

"I could ask you the same question," she winked back. Luffy put the pen back down on the desk, hopping over it to be closer to her new acquaintance.

"That you could - I'm Luffy." she stuck her hand out, the girl hesitated for a second before accepting her introduction

"Nami" She nodded, the girls smiled at each other.'

"Well, then Nami - how about we get out of this shit hole?"

They went down to the area that Luffy had pre-arranged to be her and Trae's meeting point. The girls talked while they were waiting, which led to the slightly disturbing discovery that Nami's eyes morphed into Beli symbols every time she talked about treasure. She was just about done explaining one of her most productive heists when Luffy spotted Trae in the corner of her eye. When he came closer, they exchanged the usual pleasantries, wordlessly confirming their success. He turned to her new companion.

"Nami - this is Trae, my companion. Trae - this is Nami, I found her hiding in the captain's quarters"

"I wasn't hiding!" She slapped Luffy on the shoulder. not noticing the silent exchange between the two beside her as Trae raised an eyebrow, Luffy subtly shaking her head in response

"Oh so you were just standing behind a closed door for no reason?" she smiled in response, enjoying the banter.

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

"Don't be such a spoilsport." Luffy winked at him before they made their way to where they hid their boat - Nami would be hitching a ride until they got to the next island

They'd met several more times in the following years and it strengthened their bond immensely. They had become sisters - much to Trae's chagrin. He and Nami had ended up rivals after a run in while he'd been on a mission. Luffy could never get her to spill what had happened that day. She wouldn't stop teasing him about it, and the glee that both the girls got over his short-comings meant that he never looked forward to their meetings. They had invited her to train with them every time they met, making her stronger - and deadlier.

The next time they met, Luffy had decided to ask her to join her crew when she set out alone. Nami had refused, but she could tell that something was wrong. It had all come out at their next meeting. She told her everything. To say that Luffy was mad was an understatement. She wanted to go and slice the fish into several hundred bits for hurting someone precious to her. But Nami had refused, asking her to do it once she'd left the network. It would garner them attention, and then they'd be out in the open. That couldn't happen. She'd ended up agreeing with her friend.

And the rest - as they say - is history.

It was several hours later. Zoro, Nami and Luffy were standing around the deck while Trae was checking something on the other side of the boat. Zoro had just finished working out.

"Where are we headed first?"

"Nami's village? I want to get there as quickly as possible," explained Luffy

"Yeah - the sooner the better..."

"What's it called?" asked Zoro

"Cocoyasi - how far away is it?"

"Hmm... should take about four days by my estimate. We'll probably have run out of provisions by then." Nami stated

"Do you know anywhere we can stop off?"

"Yeah - there's a couple of islands along the way and a restaurant about 3 days from here, we can stock up before we go."

"Oh, a restaurant? We do need to get a Chef. We can't live off Trae's cooking forever" They heard a disgruntled shout from the other side of the boat

"HEY! It's not that bad!" Luffy giggled uncontrollably, proceeding to fall on the floor as the other two smirked at her antics.

"That's a good point to be fair - Then it's decided, we'll head to the Baratie. When we're on the Grand line we'll need someone who knows about nutrition and can ration properly..." She then walked off, making a mental list of things that they'll need in the near future

**Syrup Village**

"I shouldn't have done that" The small boy mutters to himself as he sat on a ledge that faced the sea. His hands clutched his forehead as he rubbed his temples. If it were any other day, he would stare at the horizon in wonder. His desire to travel and explore the world was indisputable, and ever since the death of his mother, it had gotten stronger. He chastised himself for what he had said to Kaya and her butler Klahadore. He was a bastard. The butler had never liked him, and hence Usopp had never taken a liking to him either (He only just managed to tolerate the man for Kaya) - but the insult about his father had tipped him over the edge. Everything that happened after that was a blur. He vaguely remembered punching the smug man, but his memories were all fuzzy.

That was when he noticed something strange on the beach below him. He brought himself out of his musings and focused. It was an unfamiliar man with sunglasses on - he looked up at the overcast sky - why the man needed sunglasses on a day like today was beyond him. And that's when he saw Klahadore, he came closer to the man and they started talking. Usopp could easily hear them from his hidden spot on the cliff.

"Have you prepared for our plan?" The butler asked calmly

"Of course Captain Kuro, the operation to murder Miss Kaya is ready to go ahead"

Murder?

"Don't call it that! And I'm not the captain anymore, remember - you are!" He replied in exasperation. Usopp searched his mind to try and figure out where he'd heard that name before. Oh right, he was supposed to have been caught by the marines and executed three years ago. Then what's he doing here?

"Yes, sorry. You know I had my superstitions about this plan, but you've never led us wrong before. I hope you know what you're doing."

"You're questioning me? Anyway, just remember - it has to look like an accident. Otherwise, this won't work."

"Yes, yes. Don't worry, I'll make sure you inherit her fortune. Just keep up your end of the bargain"

"Don't worry, I've grown tired of being a pirate, you'll get what you want. Hopefully, when this is all over I can live a peaceful life in this village."

"Sure Captain. The men have been like zombies with a week of inaction, I'm sure they're busting for a fight."

"Just make sure it works..."

Oh shit. Usopp thought. That's been his plan all along! Something had always felt off about the man. He wasn't about to let pirates attack the village, nobody would lay a hand on Kaya if he had any say in it. He had to tell everyone!

Smoke rose from a desolate field. Once golden crops were now painted black. Her hair blew with the wind as the blackened wheat brushed against her legs. She raised her hand, noticing a weight against it. A metal shackle, the chain has been ripped in half as she watched the links sway slightly in the wind. They clinked softly. Turning around, she saw a massive mansion behind her - A red glow surrounded it as it crackled. Soot blew in the wind. She reached up to touch her face - it stung. Blood mixed with the black on her hand. Falling to her knees, everything went dark.

She awakened with a gasp - her hand immediately went to her cheek, her calloused fingers brushed against one of the jagged scars. She could almost feel phantom pain as the heartbeat rushed against her head. She pushed off her covers, running to the mirror to look at her face. Breaths escaped her lips, quick and harsh. Nausea rose through her and her eyes closed, resting her head against the cold lacquer of the dresser. It's almost like she could feel the soot in her lungs.

Deep breath in

Deep breath out

And repeat.

Her breathing slowly returned to normal. It had been the most vivid dream she'd had the displeasure of witnessing in a while. Cursing her subconscious, she opened her eyes, looking down at her clenched hands. It was time - she couldn't put it off any longer.

Letting out a shaky breath, she stretched her neck, blinking several times before looking at herself in the mirror. Determination set in her eyes.

'You've got this.'

Standing up, Nami was still asleep, she went over to the door and silently slipped outside. The deck was empty. She sighed in relief. She could put it off for a bit longer. She went over to the ship's railing and looked at the sea. The waves calmed her - they always had. She heard another door open - she looked around and saw Zoro.

"You're up early."

"So are you," she nodded in greeting, offering a small smile as they looked out onto the horizon, watching the sun slowly rise against the waves. He hummed lightly, looking to the same point in the sky as his captain.

"Nice sunrise."

"Beautiful." she smiled tightly, before leaving the railings in search of food.

Yes - today would have to be the day.

When everyone was awake, she decided to call a meeting. This led to a very awkwardly shaped circle in the middle of the ship. Zoro looked half asleep having gone back to sleep earlier and was only just forced back awake, Nami was sat on the floor and Trae was leaning against the railing next to Luffy.

"So... I have something important to tell you," That got everyone's attention. "well - you may or may not know that I have a Devil Fruit." She revealed. Nami and Trae were not surprised. Zoro on the other hand just looked confused.

"What? I heard they were myths."

"Hm? No, they're real, I'm telling you because if I go overboard you'll need to pull me back up," she explained

"Yeah - but couldn't you have just told this to Zoro - me and Trae already know about this?"

"Erm... because you don't know what it is."

"Wait - you can tell us?" Trae asked

"Yeah, and you'd find out anyway once we get to Grand line,"

"And..." Nami gestured for her to continue.

"Oh yeah - I have the Oshi Oshi no Mi. I can control pressure."

"Pressure?"

"But how does that even work?"

"Well, like I can move objects and build up or remove pressure behind things. When I lose control over it I somehow tap into atmospheric pressure... I'm just going with the flow most of the time."

"Could you give us an example?"

"Yeah!" she said, taking out a small object. It was a small, black ball. She closed her hands with the object between them, and when she separated them, the ball floated in mid-air. The crew were speechless.

"I've been using it to try and practice my control... moving things isn't my greatest strength," she stated as it whizzed around her, settling above her shoulder. The only evidence of her exertion was the crease in her forehead. The object dropped back into her hand.

"Any questions?"

There was an awed silence as they stared at the small ball lying harmlessly in her hand.

'"Needless to say - you can't say anything about this. If the marines found out we'd be tailed across the seas for weeks."

One of the good things that came out of her family was the fact that they'd beaten (not literally) the core principles of discretion into her. It was the only thing that seemed to stick.

"Yeah of course..." Nami said, affirming what the other two around her were too shocked to say.

"Thanks, guys!" She beamed, and somehow, the day was looking a lot brighter.

They were about half a day out from the Baratie - the floating restaurant that Nami had told them about. As it came into view, Trae and Luffy recognised it instantly. It's hard to forget a giant, blue fish-shaped boat in the middle of the ocean.

"Oh! We've been here before!" Trae exclaimed, suddenly excited. Luffy drooled slightly just thinking about the delicious food that they ate last time they were here. They had come undercover as a couple in order to tail some noble who'd decided to take his current love affair for a meal out. Very inconspicuous... they would have felt sympathy for his wife if she wasn't just as much - if not more - of a bastard. Luffy could honestly say that it had been her favourite mission. The waiter had been a bit perverted, but the food had been divine.

"We're definitely finding our chef here," Luffy stated, staring dreamily into the distance as if in a trance "Even if I have to drag them out of here against their will,"

"Luffy... hello?" Trae waved his hand in front of her face in an attempt to break her out of it.

After somehow managing to get Luffy to come back to her senses, they docked the ship in a free spot. The restaurant was popular - and with good reason. When they stepped inside, their nostrils were blessed with the most mouthwatering of aromas.

They were greeted by the same man who had sat her and Trae the last time they were here. He immediately fawned over the two women who had graced his presence.

"Oh, what a beautiful day! To be blessed on today of all days! I'm Sanji - I'll be your waiter and chef for today. What can I do for two beautiful ladies such as yourselves?" He was a little dramatic, but they could work with that. Plus, it was nice to be treated like a princess for once. The two men fell behind.

"This," Trae pointed to the flailing chef with his thumb. "Is the only downside of this place," Zoro twitched in agreement, almost itching to slice the man's annoying eyebrows off. They were seated and given menus to which everyone with the exception of Luffy looked at. She was openly staring at Sanji. After a few moments of contemplation, she spoke.

"Hmm, I think I've found our chef!"

"Please tell me it's not who I think it is... you haven't even talked to him properly, how do you know he'll be a good fit?" Trae muttered

"Captain... Would you think about that a little bit longer?" Zoro asked, catching her drift

"Hm, what's there to think about? He cooked the food we had last time didn't he?"

"I don't see any problem with it Lu, he seems like an excellent choice" Nami smiled slyly, directing her gaze to Trae's distressed form.

"Oh yeah - well maybe it does right now!" Trae snarked

"What can I get for you beautiful ladies?" Sanji interrupted, and Nami immediately changed her tone.

"What would you recommend?" She practically preened under the attention

"Anything with meat!" Luffy practically bounced on her seat.

"I know exactly what I can get you!" He spun around, making everyone at the table slightly dizzy.

"And for you shitty bastards."

"What did you just call me swirly-brows?" You could feel the tension in the air as Nami coughed, turning Sanji into a useless noodle.

After they finally ordered, Sanji returned to the kitchen. Luffy couldn't take his eyes off of him.

"Nami - I think we'd better tell the head Chef that he'll be losing one of his employees," Trae stated in resignation

"Of course!" She grinned

The food - of course - was the most delicious they had ever eaten.

"Oh my god," Luffy practically moaned into her food. And in this very second, neither Trae nor Zoro would have complained about the chef joining their rag-tag crew. Even if he did have shitty curly eyebrows.

Their bliss was interrupted by the said chef, which immediately soured both the men's moods.

"How is everything for you lovely ladies?"

"Perfect... although it does seem a bit pricey..." Nami pouted while Luffy continued to wolf down the food she'd been given

"It's free for you my goddess!"

"Hey, what about us!"

"You still have to pay!" He shouted

"Join my crew"

The statement clearly caught him off guard, judging by the sudden dropping of his womanizing persona. Although the rest of the small crew had to give it to him - he recovered quickly. He cleared his throat.

"As much as it pains me to refuse the request of a lady, I have a debt to repay before I can leave here." Luffy attempted to use her puppy eyes and it looked like it physically pained the chef to look at her

"Good luck with that," Trae said sarcastically, chuckling under his breath as he watched her continue her full-frontal assault

"Yeah, she'll get you eventually,"

"What'd you say you shitty moss head!"

"What'd you call me you bastard!"

**The next day**

Luffy was relaxing on deck, watching Zoro train with his weights - where on earth he got them from no-one could tell.

"Hmm..."

"You okay Luffy?" Nami asked, walking up to her

"Oh - yeah. Just trying to figure out how to persuade Sanji to join us - When are you expected back?"

"Soon - probably in two days at the latest."

"Hopefully it doesn't take that long - but if it does, you could take Trae to get a head start. We shouldn't be too far behind you"

"Hey, I've got to agree to it first!" Trae exclaimed. He had just come out of the cabin just in time to hear their conversation.

"Really now?" Nami asked with a smile that held many implications as she reached for her bo staff

"Fine - fine. Where are we going?"

"To Nami's village, keep up, we were talking about this earlier." Nami rubbed her shoulder subconsciously as Trae for once in his life attempted to comfort her.

"Ah - right. I remember now." He placed a hand on hers, nodding at her. "Yeah, that's good with me,"

"What's this?" Zoro asked, putting down his weights.

"If this takes too long, Nami and Trae are gonna head to Cocoyasi by themselves. We'll stay behind, but I doubt it'll take very long. I have a date with-" Luffy was very rudely interrupted by a marine vessel coming onto the docking bay.

"Buggy Pirates! I'm Lieutenant Iron-fist Fullbody. Who's in charge of this vessel" Luffy looked at the man - how dare he call them Buggy Pirates!

"I'm the captain - we stole this boat from the Buggy Pirates." The marine was taken aback.

"Then why have you yet to take down the pirate flag?"

"We've had more pressing matters to attend to, besides, we're still pirates!"

"Luffy-" Nami whispered

"Wait for it..."

"Why would you - never mind It's your lucky day. It's my day off - enjoy your meals."

There was a small commotion on the marine vessel when they noticed the canons aiming at them.

"This is a terrible idea," Trae stated

"Eh - we'll be fine..." The cannonball hurtled towards them and the crew members held their breath. Scrunching up her face, she pictured the cannonball in her mind's eye and then pushed it back towards the Marine ship using her powers. It did not go as planned. The object was different than what she was used to in both density and speed, so instead of going towards the marines, it swerved and crashed into the restaurant.

"What the..."

"Oops." There was a shout that came from within the boat and the head chef peeked outside of the whole.

"Who did that!" the man yelled. Everyone pointed at Trae.

"Why is it always me?"

Nami, Luffy and Trae were escorted to the head chef's office.

"So, which one of you idiots blew a hole in my ship?" Luffy and Nami pointed at Trae who was stuck in the middle of them

"But-" The chef raised an eyebrow as Nami 'subtly' stomped on his foot.

"Sure - let's go with that." He said in resignation, slumping forward in misery.

"We are very sorry sir, but as you can see, our friend here has quite a bad aim. Is there anything we can do to make it up to you?"

"Hmm - Can you pay me for the repairs?"

"How much?" Nami asked and the chef started to write out a receipt - handing it to Nami who looked it over. She gave a forced smile, although it looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Is there any other way we could make it up to you?"

"You can work off the debt - for a year."

"Yeah - we can... Wait a year? But we need to leave in two days!"

"Hey, mister - you can't do that."

"There are no other options - Unless..."

"Unless?"

"You want to give me your leg!" Trae scrambled back, deciding to hide behind Luffy.

"I'm not giving you my leg!" He shouted

"I'm sure there must be something else we can do for you," Nami smirked, pulling Trae out from his hiding space. "Trae here can start working for you until we come up with a better solution." The chef hummed with acknowledgement and nodded and Trae was escorted out of the room. There was a pause as the chef realised that the girls weren't leaving the room.

"Is there anything else I can do for you"

"Well - as a matter of fact. We're looking for a chef to take with us on our journey-"

And thus started the negotiations, if you could even call them that. Luffy basically just paced around the office listing the same two reasons why he should let them take Sanji with them while Nami attempted to soften the blow.

When they arrived back downstairs (followed by the head chef), the restaurant was a mess, and Sanji was beating up the marine that had fired on their ship earlier.

"Excuse me, ladies - it seems I've got a fight to sort out" he went past them shouting profanities at the whole room

"Do you want to ruin me?!" He shouted, going into the fray, but soon the fighting devolved into a shouting match between Sanji and another chef. Nami and Luffy had decided to take a seat on the table Zoro had decided to sit at.

"The customer is King! Why can't you get that into your thick skull!"

"Only if they can stomach your slop!"

"Patty! Sanji! If you're gonna fight - do it in the Kitchen. You're scaring away the customers!" Suddenly, a marine burst through the doors.

"Lt. Fullbody, It's awful! Sorry, sir! But he got away from the ship's brig!"

"Impossible!" The fool Fullbody shouted back "He was barely alive!"

There was a gunshot as a bullet perforated the marine's chest and slumped on the ground. The civilian customers screamed as he stumbled into the room.

"That's Demon-Man Gin of the Krieg Pirates!"

At this, Patty stopped his shouting match and muttered to himself.

"A customer?"

Sanji lit a cigarette, taking a drag. The man took a seat - he was obviously malnourished.

"This place serves food right - Bring me some"

"Anything for a valued customer - can you pay?"

"Do you take lead?"

"So that's a no..." Without warning, Patty smashed the man in front of him - breaking the chair at the same time.

"Hey, Patty! - you'll have to pay the collateral on that!"

"If you can't pay, you ain't a customer!" He shouted, which resulted in a round of applause from the already seated customers. He soon moved outside and Luffy watched on in interest as Sanji went to the kitchen. She didn't catch any more of Patty's words - they would have been boring anyway.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said to Nami who nodded back to her. Making her way to the middle level, she went out onto the balcony, watching Gin's form as he lay motionless on the decking. Sanji came out. He sat down in front of the pirate and placed a bowl of rice out in front of the man.

"Eat."

Gin moved his head to look at the plate, not believing what he saw. It didn't take him long to realise he wasn't hallucinating as he grabbed the plate and started scoffing it down.

"It's delicious!" He was crying into the dish as he barely breathed between mouthfuls. Sanji smiled in contentment as he lit his cigarette, breathing in a lungful of smoke before relaxing against the railings.

"It seems you're a lucky one aren't you" She shouted, getting the attention of both men

"Miss?"

"Ya know - you're not doing yourself any favours there Sanji - It makes me want you on my crew even more" She giggled, jumping over the railings to join the two men on the lower deck.

"My apologies - but I still can't join you." Gin was listening in as he finished the dish

"I refuse!"

"What do you mean you refuse?"

"I mean I want you to join me and therefore you'll come with us!"

"You can't-"

"You're a Pirate?" Gin interrupted

"Yup! I'm going to be the King!" She exclaimed cheerily.

"That means you're headed to the Grand line right? I would advise against it..." He shuddered

"Hmm?"

"You look pretty scared for a Kreig Pirate," Sanji noted.

"My crew were there for barely even a week when our entire fleet was destroyed. I don't know what we did to deserve it, but the tales of it being the pirate's graveyard are true." He said bitterly

"I'm still going. All the answers are out there... and I'd rather die trying to get them than stay here and know that I never even tried." She looked out onto the horizon, her eyes sparkled with hope and adventure. Answers, huh. Sanji took another drag of his cigarette, then dropped it into the ocean.

"Well, I thought I'd warn you" Gin had borrowed a small boat and was going back to his crew.

"Thanks - but we'll be fine!" Luffy said brightly.

"Sanji, I can't thank you enough! You saved my life! I promise to pay you back one day!"

"Don't worry about it,"

"Sanji!" There was a shout heard from the kitchen.

"I'm sorry if I get you in trouble!" He shouted as he was starting to get further away. Sanji smiled as he moved his foot, pushing the plate into the sea

"You only get in trouble if you get caught!" He shouted back

As he disappeared over the horizon, Luffy turned back to face the chef.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to persuade you?" she said cheekily.

"Certain." He said turning to face her, but she seemed unbothered.

"You'll change your mind," she waved off his reply, walking back into the restaurant with a knowing smile. She stared at her receding form as he twitched his fingers. Shit. He could really do with another smoke.

**Two days later**

"Have you figured out a way for me to get out of this yet!" Trae whined. He had been slumped on the small sofa in the cabin for three hours, recovering from his time working at the restaurant. It really shouldn't have hurt this much, considering his previous and current occupation.

"They've had me washing dishes for two days! Two! My feet hurt, my back hurts! Somehow even my-"

"Oh shut up already! We get it!" Nami shouted, bonking him over the head with her staff.

"Well - no, but you guys need to leave today, and I'm no closer to persuading Sanji" Luffy also moped.

"What's got everyone so depressed?" Zoro asked, popping his head into the room, he'd just finished his monstrosity of a workout.

"Sanji and Trae." Nami sighed

"Why don't we just kidnap him?" he asked his captain, amused at her predicament.

"Because - well - um" Luffy tried to articulate

"She wants to win him over," Nami translated.

"Ah! I've never had this problem before! Why can't he-" She ranted, deciding to go outside midway through her sentence to get some fresh air. Her voice was muffled when the door closed.

"We have to leave today regardless. So you can stop your moping and help me take inventory" Nami stated as Trae looked up at her.

"Inventory? Really?"

"Yes! Now get your ass out there or else!" She shouted, chasing Trae out of the room with her pole, managing to usher out Zoro as-well.

And so the plan was made - Luffy and Zoro would go into the restaurant as per usual while Nami and Trae would sail away unnoticed. Hopefully, Luffy would be a big enough distraction with her bottomless stomach and constant pestering. Surprisingly, it worked. Luffy spent the next two hours following Sanji round and asking him to join her crew, leading to him becoming increasingly frustrated due to the fact he was refusing a lady of all people. The peace was disturbed when a customer let out a shout, causing the whole room to panic.

"That's Don Kreig's Ship!" A worried chatter spread across the room as customers started flocking to the exit in an attempt to escape a confrontation with the infamous pirate. Luffy decided to join Zoro back at the table. Something didn't feel right.

"What's going on?" Luffy shrugged her shoulders, neither of them had been paying attention to the customer's words. They moved to one of the windows to see what the commotion was about. A massive ship appeared in the distance. It seemed to be in pretty bad shape as pieces of timber dropped into the sea. She let out a long whistle. She wasn't sure how it would have worked, but it looked like it had been put through a blender.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't look good," Zoro stated, watching as the ship came closer. The chefs congregated at the entrance of the restaurant.

The door flung forward, and with it came Gin and a massive man who looked to be worse for wear.

"Please, give us food, we have plenty of money," the man begged before promptly collapsing under his own weight.

"Don! You shouldn't beg it's beneath you! Please help us, we're paying customers this time!" Gin shouted, fretting over his collapsed captain.

"You think we're gonna feed you? We're not that naive. Someone call the marines!" There was a consensus among the other chef's.

However, much to the disagreement of the other people in the room, Sanji (who had left the room shortly after the man had asked for something to eat) had come out from the kitchens with food for Don Kreig.

The other two pirates had zoned out at the chef's outrage and had started to plan out their next moves. They were soon interrupted when they heard the commotion.

"This should be good," Zoro noted, smirking as he watched Sanji get knocked down when Kreig had finished his meal. Luffy raised an eyebrow. He demanded food for the remains of his starving crew, and one of the chef's decided that it was the perfect time to launch an attack against the weakened captain.

This didn't do anything except annoy the man and reveal his plated armour. Which at this point he also decided to lay claim to the ship. After that Luffy and Zoro realised, much to their disappointment, that nothing interesting was going to occur any time soon and so returned to their previous conversation with a sly grin. They'd have to spice it up a bit.

It took several minutes of ranting for Don Kreig to realise that he wasn't the centre of attention. Some of the chefs had taken to watching the conversation of the two remaining customers which had slowly been rising in volume over the last few minutes.

"You see if we were to-"

"No, no it would be better to-"

"No-one defies me you worthless- WOULD YOU SHUT UP!" He shouted, attempting to get the two's attention. Much to Kreig's frustration, the two apparently hadn't heard a thing and completely ignored him, you could see a vein protrude from his forehead in frustration. Said annoyances were having trouble holding onto their laughter, subtly watching the room turn to them in disbelief.

His anger was interrupted when Zeff came out of the kitchen, throwing a massive bag full of food at Don Kreig's face for his remaining crew.

"You sure have balls considering you ran scared from the grand line."

"Chef Zeff!" One of the chef's cried

"Aw, come on, it was starting to get interesting!" Luffy whined, slumping on the table. All that hard work had come to nothing. Zoro looked at his captain in amusement, taking another gulp of his sake, finishing it off.

"Zeff?" The pirate Captain thought for a second before realising who was in front of him. "As in Red-Leg Zeff? You're the infamous pirate that disappeared from the seas years back? Everyone thought you were dead, I wonder what they would think if they saw you now?" The man grinned maliciously as he pointed at the man's leg. Sanji tensed up, and the rest of the chefs saw red.

"You must have trouble fighting now that you've lost your leg, considering that that was your signature fighting style."

"As you can see, I'm retired now, as long as I've got my hands to cook with, I'm happy with what I've got." He stated nonchalantly in an attempt to calm his employees.

"Hm, no matter. You must have a logbook of your time on the grand line, right? Hand it over and I might consider letting you live."

"I'll never hand it over to a man like you - it's my crew's treasure" Zeff practically snarled

"It looks like I'll have to take it myself." The man smirked as he thought about his future plans "with that logbook I'll be unstoppable! I had the ships, I had the men, I had the ambition. The only thing I lacked was knowledge! I'm the strongest man on the seas! Once I'm done here I'll have the power to take on the Grand Line and obtain One Piece!"

"Ha! You? Become the King? Don't make me laugh!" Luffy spat out, staring daggers at the man's head. Her hat obscured her eyes.

"And who are you to say that, little girl?" She stood up and began to walk over to the pirate. He started laughing as she got near, and she tipped up her hat slightly, revealing the fire in her eyes. The rest of the room was silent as she responded

"Me? Oh, I'm going to be the King of the pirates." Clenching her fist, she landed a hit on the centre of his armour. He let out a sharp breath before he was sent flying into the wreckage of his ship. There was a dent in his armour where her fist had landed, forming a hairline crack. So much for his armour being 'indestructible'. She kicked the bag of food after him, watching to make sure it made it to the ship as she wiped her hands on her trousers. When she turned around, the room was frozen in shock at her actions, resulting in an awkward silence. Looking to Zoro, their mouths set in smirks as he nodded to her subtly. She decided to address the spellbound audience.

"Well... They'll be attacking soon, I'll be outside if anyone needs me" she pointed her thumb at the open door behind her before walking out of sight.

The silence dissipated almost immediately after she had left the room. Zoro was about to follow his captain outside but stopped when he heard Gin's shaky voice.

"How did a ship that big get into that state anyway?" one of the chefs asked, staring at the destroyed gallon.

"It all went south on our seventh day, there was a thick fog that surrounded our fleet, and then it happened... I don't know how, but one man sank fifty ships! I'm going to have nightmares about that man's piercing Hawk-eyes for months."

Hawk-eyes?

Zoro froze. He couldn't believe his luck. For that man to be on the grand line... For Luffy to have met him when she did... He had definitely joined the right crew. Smirking, he put a hand on the hilts of his swords and walked out of the room, leaving the terrified chefs alone. It didn't take him long to find his captain, she wasn't far from the door and had shouted his name before he had gone to search for her - narrowly avoiding that disaster.

"You're in a good mood," She noted, continuing to look at the sunset.

"Gin just gave me another reason to go to the grand line, you ready for the fight?"

"Always," she nodded "It's Mihawk right? The world's greatest swordsman."

"You know of him?"

"It's hard not to. He's one of the Warlords,"

"Warlords?"

A massive crash interrupted their conversation as the sea became choppy. The pirate's aboard their decimated ship gave a shout as it began sinking further into the depths. Many of the chefs ran out onto the decking to see what the commotion was about.

"It's him! He's followed us across the Red Line!" The man came into view and Zoro tensed. He was here?

"Why did you keep stalking us!" one of them asked in despair as the pirates shot at him, but not one met their mark. He smirked.

"To kill some time,"

"I've never seen such graceful movements," He commented, Luffy looked at him in concern.

"A sword without grace is just a bar of iron." Zoro's eyes glinted with excitement as he grinned.

"You cut that ship with your sword, you must be the best. I went out to sea to find you!"

"Why?"

"To surpass you - want to kill some time?" He unsheathed his swords.

"Zoro," He glanced at his captain. She remembered her promise clearly, but it didn't stop her from worrying.

"Don't die." She stated

"Aye," He grinned and jumped off of the railing to face Mihawk.

"You - surpass me? If you were any good you should already know the difference in power. Are you ignorant or just stupid?"

"Neither. My ambition drives me, as well as a promise to a friend." He smirked, placing Wado Ichimonji in his mouth. "I wasn't expecting to meet you so soon,"

"It's a shame, you should have waited," Mihawk noted, taking out a small dagger. Zoro stared at the weapon and his eyes narrowed in anger.

"What are you planning to do with that," He snarled.

"I have a policy against hunting rabbits with cannons." He smirked, taking a relaxed stance as Zoro's anger blinded him.

"You may have a reputation in the East, but it is the tamest of them all. It's time you learn how big the world is." He lunged at the man

"You'll regret those words!"

"ONI-GIRI"

A silence seeped into the deck as Zoro stared at the point of impact. His three swords were stopped easily with the tip of the blade. No-one he'd met had ever countered that attack before. There couldn't be this much difference between them! Not after all he'd been thorough. He couldn't fail now. It then became a game of cat and mouse. Mihawk easily kept him at a distance as he blocked every strike. Each strike became more and more desperate,

"TORA-GARI"

The dagger met its mark. Zoro steeled himself, freezing against the blade. He wouldn't look down.

"Why don't you step back?" He asked as Zoro stared into his unforgiving eyes.

"I can't. Even if I move one inch I feel like my vow, my ambition, everything I care about will be void." Mihawk smirked

"Yes, that's defeat."

"That's why I can't move"

"Even if it means death?"

"I'd rather die than admit defeat." Mihawk stood there for a second, contemplating his words before removing the blade.

"What's your name?"

"Roronoa Zoro"

"I shall remember it. It's been a while since I've met someone with a will as strong as yours. I shall honour that by using Yoru, known to be the strongest sword in the world." He reached for his back and pulled out the pitch blade and Zoro let out a bloodthirsty grin. This was his last chance, if he fell here - it was all over.

"Santoryu Secret technique: Three thousand worlds!"

There was a moment of stillness, and then a loud crack echoed through the sea. His swords were broken. He stood, sheathing his prized possession and then turned to face his fate.

"A wound on the back is a swordsman shame."

"How admirable." Mihawk raised his blade and struck. The world went dark.

"ZORO!" A bolt of lightning illuminated the dark clouds that had twisted above the restaurant. A wave of pure energy was reflected as she hit his blade with her pipe. The waves rippled around them slightly, and the sky parted. The storm was gone as soon as it appeared. They traded several blows in flashes.

"Your comrade is alive..." He stated, not even out of breath in comparison to Luffy who was gulping down air into her screaming lungs. He gestured over to where two chefs had swum to her fallen swordsman. "It is too soon for you to die. Travel the seas and become stronger, come and meet me when you reach the top." A potential successor had been chosen. Luffy nodded to Mihawk in thanks.

"What's your goal?" She paused for a few seconds.

"To be King." She stated, staring him directly in the eyes.

"A difficult task, even more so than your swordsman."

"True, but since when has anything worth achieving been easy?" She acknowledged. Mihawk smirked and tipped his hat at her.

"I'll be watching for you," She nodded again, smirking before hopping off his boat.

"Luffy! Can you hear me?" Her head snapped in his direction

"Yeah,"

"I'm sorry!" He raised his sword in the air as his voice echoed around the sea "You were worried right! If I failed to become the world's greatest swordsman, you'll be disappointed right? From now on! I will never lose again! Not until I defeat him and become the world's greatest swordsman! **I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN!** You got a problem with that Pirate King?!" The whole world waited with bated breath

"Nope!" Her face spread out into an enormous smile as she laughed. The day was bright again.


End file.
